This invention relates generally to improvements in selector buttons for electronic musical instruments, and more particularly, to improvements in the chord selector button assembly for electronic organs, and the like. Heretofore, the production of keys and chord buttons for musical instruments, and especially those used in electronic organs, have provided a bar for receiving a separate key or arm mounted thereon for holding the chord button in its proper registry with a cover plate located in the chord button selection area of the electronic organ. Usually these arms are held in place by screws or the like with the entire assembly being mounted by means of mechanical hinge structures added thereto during the assembly operation. Each arm for the chord button has had to be mounted individually, and considerably manual labor and time is required to mount such prior art arrangments. Furthermore, the requirement for dexterity and skilled labor increases the cost for assembling such units.
In accordance with the invention disclosed and claimed in Howard M. Thomas et. al U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,357 ELECTRONIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION, sub-assemblies of keys are provided in which a plurality of plastic keys is formed integral with a mounting strip with a flexible section between each key and the mounting strip. Furthermore, in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,357, it is necessary to have three sub-assemblies for three different groups of keys, these corresponding to each of three different octaves associated with the black and white keys of the standard piano keyboard. In mounting this structure it is necessary to place three mounting strips one on top of the other on a supporting base. This construction is generally satisfactory for piano-type keys, but a certain amount of hand-labor is necessary for placing each of the sub-assemblies in their proper position and for securing them in place.
A variation on the structure shown in the Thomas et. al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,357 is found in the R. A. Becwar U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,754 issued Sept. 4, 1965, which also relates to the construction of the piano-type black and white key arrangement. In this patent the octave group of white or natural keys is formed integral with the mounting strip, and there is an interconnecting flexural strip mounting each key to the mounting strip. Similarly, there is a separate group of sharp or black keys integrally molded with a single mounting strip with a flexural interconnecting strip between each key and the mounting strip. This structural arrangement still presents a problem in that two mounting strips must be secured to a support, one on top of the other.